Article by: James Scanlon

In 2017, François Gabart bested the previous single handed round the world record, of 49 days 3 hours and seven minutes, set by Thomas Coville in 2016. Gabart, only 34 years of age at the time, beat Coville’s record handily, by a margin of roughly 6 days, setting the new record at 42 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes.

During the sail, Gabart, aboard his 30 meter foiling trimaran MACIF, covered 27.859.7 miles at a blistering average speed of 27.2 knots, recording a top speed of 39.2 knots. Impressive as this type of speed may be, progress never sleeps, especially in today’s day and age of high performance sailing. No where has this progression been more apparent and relentless than in the area of foil development. Spurred on by the America’s’ Cup use of foils, the geometry and composite technology of the foils has been studied extensively over recent years, with significant advances being made seeming on a monthly basis. The build team behind MACIF has capitalized on these advances, equipping the trimaran with larger, thinner foils, allowing the boat to generate more lift and suffer less drag.

In the interest of getting the most out of the revamped foils, the updated MACIF, like its previous incarnation, and Thomas Covilles’ ‘SOBEDO’ will be equipped with GORI zero drag propellor. By reducing drag to zero, the GORI propellor can add a knot (or more in such an extreme case such as MACIF) of boat speed to any hull it is outfitted to. Over the course of a circumnavigation or trans atlantic race, this speed advantage can equate to hours, even days, often times the difference between setting a new record or failure.

In addition to the new foils, the cockpit cabin has been redesigned in the interest of aerodynamics. The hydraulics and electronics have also been updated. On paper this should all result in some significant speed improvements to an already hot boat.

In order to put the new MACIF through its paces, and in order to get back into the mindset of single handed racing, Gabart will be sailing Route de Ruhm, the 3542 nm single handed transatlantic race in November. With four other Ultime trimarans in the event, notably Sebastian Jose’s new 32 meter Edmond de Rothschild Catamaran, the race will give MACIF the opportunity to learn where it stands in terms of prospective competition, and how much the improvements to the cabin and foils will affect the boats speed.